High Five
by Amulet Misty
Summary: It all started with a yellow piece of cloth. One-shot. [Twelve Shots of Summer]


**A/N: Tadaaa! I need to post this quickly because I'm going to go on the plane soon to go back home! Malaysia, here I come :'D So enjoy this unproof-read fic (well, then again I never really proof-read anyway xD). This is post-manga so it'll have spoilers if you haven't read it. Also, excuse me if I get any terminology or in-canon things wrong :O (I hope I haven't, but you never know). Just a warning. Anyway, this is for the Twelve Shots of Summer Challenge on this site. Go check it out! The prompt this week, Week 5, was 'Symbiosis'.**

High Five

Maka was mad at Soul.

According to her, his head was inflated to the point where it would 'burst'. Fine, admittedly, having the title of the 'Last Death Scythe' did give him a bit more bragging rights, but he didn't exercise them _that _often. He may or may not have then made a snipe about Maka's test results for this term, ('at least I _have _something to brag about. What about you, Miss Second Place?'), the trigger to her angrily stomping off.

While that wasn't anything alarming, since they always had little fights here and there, Soul was questioning the way she was channeling her anger. Instead of burying herself into another one of those boring books of hers, or maybe even pushing her cooking shift onto him, she was currently chucking stuff out of one of their cupboards. He couldn't imagine what she could be looking for in there.

Whatever it was, she found it, as she made a triumphant, 'ahah' sound.

Hands in the pockets of his jumper, he walked to her side and looked down, peering over her head to see what exactly it was she had discovered.

It was a small ragged looking cardboard box.

"So, what's in the box?" he asked, red eyes curious. "If you're angry at me, you can just do the usual. No need to find some new way to vent."

"I wasn't looking for the box because I was angry," she said, huffing. Maybe she was angry _now. _"I just remembered something and wanted to make sure it was still here."

She slowly made to open the box and Soul watched, anticipation rising.

Maka let out a relieved sigh upon seeing the item. "Good, it's still here."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

He shouldn't have asked. The moment he did, she whipped around and gave him a hard look. "What do you mean 'what's that'? What does it _look _like?"

"It's…" The actual object wasn't a problem. It looked like a piece of yellow cloth. Yes, that was all Soul could say about it. A piece of yellow cloth. That was it. "I obviously can tell what it is, but why were you looking for it?"

"Well, I was just thinking…"

Soul rolled his eyes. "When are you _not _thinking?"

"Soul!" she snapped, because she was _very serious _at the moment. "You don't remember what this is, do you?"

Uh oh.

That was her accusatory you-should-really-know-this tone.

"…Nope. No clue."

"You're unbelievable!" she stormed out of the room, throwing the cloth at him.

'Yes' would have been the answer she would have liked to her, but she would be able to tell that he was lying and she'd have been doubly mad.

If Maka was angry enough to exit the room, then this stupid piece of cloth must be important. Or something.

He picked up the cloth from the spot on his lap it had fluttered onto. He felt rubbed the cloth between his fingers, feeling the texture. It registered as soft, as he picked his mind for what it could possibly be.

_Yellow cloth. Yellow cloth. Yellow cloth. _

Ugh, he had no clue.

Okay. Maka always had a process in which her mind worked. So if Soul just traced back…_yellow cloth…Maka losing her temper…me being the 'Last Death Scythe'. _

…

_Oh!_

He slapped his forehead.

Yeah.

He remembered.

xxxxx

_**A few years ago… **_

"We've been at this for ages, but we still can't get this right," whispered Maka frustrated, eyebrows knit together in frustration.

At that point in time, he hadn't known her for _that _long, but he could already see the way her mind was working. She was trying to solve this problem like it was some kind of puzzle, or something that had a definitive answer. Which was why they were stuck at the school library, pouring over every book that had a variation of 'Soul Resonance' in its title.

He didn't know why they bothered looking this up. Maka said, (because he hadn't really been paying attention to class that time) was that they just needed to sync up their Soul Wavelength and _bam _Soul Resonance was born.

And Soul thought matching up shouldn't have been a problem. Despite the fact that Soul was beyond _cool _and Maka was a nerdy bookworm (a stubborn one, at that), they had hit it off since day one. She offered his hand out to him and he just _knew _that if there was anyone in Shibusen Academy that he would be his Meister, it would be her. He didn't care if it seemed like a cheesy way to partner up, at least they hadn't had to go through the mess some other students were; it would be totally uncool if he had more people fighting over him to become their Weapon (it would just give him a headache).

She didn't look like she would pick just any person for her partner, and she was the one who had suggested it, so they _should _be on the same page. Or maybe he was wrong. Maybe they were on the same book, but not yet on the same page. If that even meant any sense. See, that was why analogies, in Soul's opinion, were uncool.

"Maka," he started.

She promptly shushed him and she nudged her head to the side indicating that _'this is a library, so be quiet'. _

"Well, I need to talk to you, so let's get out of here," said Soul, not bothering to lower his voice. See if he didn't whisper, she would have no choice but to leave with him.

He was right, of course, because she shot the librarian an apologetic look and followed Soul out.

"What is it, Soul?" She put her hand on her hips, most likely to try and look more intimidating. "You do realise that class starts in about fifteen minutes and if we don't get this right, we'll be the laughing stock of the class."

"Not everyone can do Soul Resonance yet," he pointed out.

"Yes," she said, nodding, "but Black Star and Tsubaki can Resonate. _Black Star._"

While Tsubaki seemed capable enough, Black Star was a downright idiot. Sure, Soul was friends with Black Star, but that didn't remove from the fact that he was an idiot. They had been one of the few to be immediately decisive about their partnership, but it had still been a shock when they showed the whole class their Soul Resonance. Soul and Maka had been fortunate enough that class had ended before it was their turn, but they had been practicing it beforehand and they had never been able to do it.

"Okay. I want to get this Soul Resonance thing done with too," he said. "I think we're going about this the wrong way."

"As in?"

"As in I don't think reading anymore books is really going to help. We've got to get our Soul Wavelengths to match, right? So maybe we need some kind of…I dunno. Common goal."

Maka pulled a face. "You want us to find a common goal in fifteen minutes? I mean whatever link we're supposed to share should probably be a bit deeper."

"Hey," Soul shrugged, "you're the smart one. You can think of something, right?"

He swore that her pig tails perked up as he called her smart and she turned around, her gloved hand stroking her chin. "Hmm…"

He had to try not to laugh – he could practically _hear_ her brain working.

She turned around and clapped her hands together. _That was fast. _

"You know how I think Papa's a jerk?"

"Yes," said Soul. Of course he did. One of the first things he learnt about Maka Albarn was that she was the daughter of the infamous Shinigami's Death Scythe. When her dad had practically threatened to murder Soul once he found out a _boy _was partnering with 'his little angel', Soul learnt that Maka really hated her dad. With reason, Soul might add, from his impression of the womanizing personality he had.

"I don't think he's good enough to be Shinigami-sama's Weapon," she said, and somewhere out there, a certain Spirit Albarn's heart shattered into a million pieces. "I want to make my Weapon," as in Soul, "the greatest Death Scythe there is. That way I can be like my mum, who's the best Meister out there. To do that, we're going to eventually have to take a Witch's soul and we're probably going to have to use Soul Resonance to defeat one." She pointed at him, smiling. "That's our goal."

…

"That's…not a really cool goal," said Soul, averting his eyes.

"What?!" Maka looked honestly shocked.

"I mean, wanting to surpass your parents is kind of normal." Soul should know.

"Well, it's a goal, at least," she said, cheeks puffing out. "What's your goal? To be the 'coolest' out there?"

"Pretty much," he said.

She looked like she was going to shout at him but then instead she put both hands on his shoulders, making him look at her. "Okay! We can work with that! If you want to be the 'coolest' out there, what can be cooler than becoming Shinigami-sama's Death Scythe?"

Hmm. "I can't think of anything."

"Great," she said, releasing him. "The shortened version of our goal, since it coincides with both our individual goals is to make you a 'Death Scythe'. There – done!"

By Maka's logic, she seemed to think she had resolved the problem well enough. Soul was going to say that even though he said finding a common goal would help them edge closer to Resonance, he wasn't a hundred percent sure. But Maka looked so self-satisfied, a prideful glint in her eyes, that he refrained.

Her confidence remained even when they did go to their lesson, and were called out to demonstrate first.

As Soul transformed into his Weapon form, he thought about what they had just decided. _Becoming a Death Scythe, huh? I'd be the coolest. _

"Ready, Soul?" she asked, a grin playing on her lips as she held him in her hands.

"Here goes nothing."

"_Soul Resonance." _

Something surged through them both at that moment, as their Wavelengths connected and synced up. He could feel himself becoming more powerful, and he could tell that his blade had grown bigger. He must have felt lighter to Maka, because she spun him around effortlessly.

The students gathered around 'oohed' in awe (with the exception of Black Star, of course, because he hated when attention was on anyone besides himself').

Both Maka and Soul felt pretty proud of themselves for being able to achieve Soul Resonance. Maybe it was a fluke, but all that mattered was that they were both thinking the same thing from now on. Their _souls _shared the same goal.

Perhaps they were both too giddy about their new-found power, because Maka started to show off a bit. Manoeuvring Soul quicker and quicker. She then did something bordering dangerous, swiping him close to the other students – close enough for them to hold their breaths. She only skimmed their clothes, though, and she finished off by spinning him around her head one last time before planting his base by her foot.

Perfect finishing pose, right there.

_Now _that _was cool. _

The class broke into applause.

Soul transformed back into his human form, grinning at Maka with his shark-like teeth exposed. She smiled back and without words, they exchanged a well-deserved high five.

They were definitely the coolest Meister and Weapon in the room, and no one could ruin this moment.

That is, right until they noticed that one of their female classmate's had turned as red as a tomato.

There was a chunk of her skirt missing.

Maka's eyes visibly widened and she took a second look at Soul. She covered her mouth and pointed to the top of his head.

Soul reached up to his white hair and retrieved a yellow piece of cloth.

Needless to say, they got detention from their teacher and the girl never looked at either of them in the eye again.

xxxxx

"Took you long enough," she chided him, as Soul joined her on the living room sofa and told her that he remembered what the cloth was, now.

"It was a long time ago, okay?" he said. "'Sides, why'd you keep it anyway?"

"It's sentimental," she said, as if it was obvious.

"Yeah, but it's a _piece of skirt,_" he said, waving the cloth around.

"It's an _important _piece of skirt," she said, crossing her arms.

...Oh, fine. He was used to his Meister's strange quirks by now. If she wanted to keep her piece of skirt, why not?

"Okay, we'll keep the piece of skirt, then," he said. It did give him a nostalgia blast, after all. "And I'm sorry about just now. I shouldn't have called you Miss Second Place. Even if it's true."

She nudged his shoulder with his own. "For now. I'll be studying a lot more, just you wait. I'll get first place in the next test – that Ox Ford won't be topping my scores again." She paused. "And I'm sorry too. For calling you an egomaniac. The point of turning you into a Death Scythe was for you to become the coolest, so what's the point if no one knows about it."

"Your dad knows it," said Soul, with a smirk. "And he still kinda hates me."

"Yup! 'Cause you're the better Death Scythe and the best Weapon out there," she said proudly.

"Only 'cause I have the best Meister."

Cheesy? Yeah, maybe.

But they were close enough by now that they could say anything to each other, and it would always be alright, in the end. They had completed their goal together, and they would stick together from now onward too.

They were Soul the Death Scythe and Maka, his Meister, after all.


End file.
